Best practices

Five ways to encourage quality feedback through Know Your Company

(1) Try out some of the Handpicked Questions

Our Handpicked Questions are written by other CEOs who actively use Know Your Company. It’s a great reference / source of inspiration for questions to ask. You can access those Handpicked Questions here.

(2) Form a “KYC Question Committee”

Mark Rickmeier, the COO of Table XI, asked folks in his company if there was anybody who’d be interested in helping brainstorm KYC Questions each week. A handful of these employees formed a “KYC Question Committee,” and each Monday in Slack, they brainstorm and decide what Know Your Company questions they’ll ask that week. It’s a great way to further crowdsource and generate insightful questions, beyond just the Question Suggestions feature.

(3) Talk about it in person

Many CEOs will address a few Company Questions during an all-company meeting. For example, Peter Kang, the CEO of Barrel, will pick the top two Company Questions and discuss them during his monthly all-hands meeting.

(4) Follow up one-on-one

CEOs often will send someone an email and thank them for their thoughtful response, especially when they disagree with the feedback or can’t act on it. This shows employees that you’re listening. For example, Amanda Lannert, the CEO of Jellyvision, will publicly thank an employee for their feedback during an all-staff meeting, and explain why the company chose to go in a different direction.

(5) Knock out small wins

When you see a suggestion worth implementing, it speaks volumes to make a change right away, no matter how small it is. For example, Paul Bellous, the co-CEO of Yellow Pencil, learned that his company needed a new phone service. He made that change promptly…and noticed an immediate shift in the company’s morale. That one small change made a huge impact on his company, simply because he acted quickly.